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Tuesday 17 December 2013

December Aim. Midway.

So my aim this month is to try and set my hair more often and to try out my setting lotion. 

Well. I've cut my hair again so it's neater now, and I'm in Scotland now visiting. My godmother was a hair dresser, so I'm hoping she'll have some setting lotion tips for me! 



So far I've set my hair twice. Which to be honest is a bit of a failure!! 



I've been having baths in the mornings so haven't wanted it to be set all day for no reason. I've taken to pin curls and pony tails for an easy retro look. 



Or victory rolls for a bit of instant glam.

In some ways I'm pleased I've done a lot more to make my hair look more vintage styled so far this month, but I would like to get this pin curl thing down!! 

It worked reasonably well the first time, but I did fairly big pin curls so it was wavy and lost it's shape quite fast. 

The second time I did it, I tried to make them smaller, neater and tighter. They certainly stuck close to my head when I took the pins out! They didn't keep too much wave when I brushed them through though! 

I had quite a lot of volume and a reasonable amount of wave. I was told I looked very twenties, which I guess is the result of the shorter hair cut. 

I have no pictures of it as I was (as usual) terribly late getting ready! 

Next up. Setting lotion! 

Jo

P.S. got any setting lotion tips? 

Friday 13 December 2013

Sentimental Skirt

I finished playing around with this skirt a couple of Sunday nights ago. Just in time to wear to jazz. 

It's been sitting around waiting for something for quite a while now, so figured it was time to do something with it! 



It's cut from the bottom of my Mum's wedding dress. My parents are divorced so she doesn't want it, and I figure that it's part of my history. 

It was very eighties to start and I fancied using the full skirt. So I cut it off! Then panicked. Then hemmed it at the waistband. Then panicked a bit more! 



Finally it's got an elastic waistband. Mostly. It's a bit bodged, but it works with a belt. 

I may take it apart again and start it over, but for the moment it's ok. 



It's a bit shorter than I'm used to, but it was really fun to dance in on Sunday. Nice and floaty and light. 

For some reason it makes me feel very 20s. God knows why. I did my hair in pin curls and a side pony. I don't like wearing my hair down to go dancing, so pin curls are a good option! 



I'm fairly pleased with the outfit in all. I like that it has some sentimentality to it and I'm glad I finally got it wearable!

Jo 

P.S. any important clothes in your wardrobe? 

P.P.S. sorry for the terrible quality phone photos!! Normal service will be resumed when the fiancĂ©/photographer returns! 

Saturday 7 December 2013

Tollesbury LightHouse Boat

A day out! Well. A couple of hours!

The other day my friend (and at some point to be sister-in-law) Dani and I went for a wander. 

We headed down to Tollesbury Marina by car and then took a walk out over the mud towards the beautiful lighthouse boat. 


It was cold, bleak and beautiful. Amazingly, the boat appeared to be open to look at. I've never seen it open before, and we may just have wandered on to something we weren't supposed to, but hey, no barriers!! 


It's rather lovely really. All big chains and rivets and surrounded by mud with a million birdy foot prints in.



Not just a close up. These chains were huge, we could barely lift one link!


Apparently it plays host to nautical activity holidays for children now since its retirement in 1988. 


Tollesbury is really a lovely place to take a walk. We went a bit further round the edge and out along a ridge where I took these pretty photos of the sunset. 



Which was when we realised we'd probably better get back to the car or risk getting stuck in the mud in the dark! 

Jo

P.S. been anywhere nice for walking lately? Best free exercise there is!! :-)

November Instagram Round Up

Day late, my reminder didn't go off! Rubbish! :-)

Top five Instagram posts as liked by people. 

According to this month I've been busy trying to teach myself to design dresses whilst baking, selling things on eBay and starting far too much knitting!! 

First off, Cookies!!

Raspberry and white chocolate oat cookies to be precise. 


Made the day we were clearing out the garage. For sustenance! There some chocolate chip lurking at the back there too. Since then I've made these again and done chocolate chip and raisin oat cookies. Yummy. 


Lovely Laura Ashley dress that went for a bargainous  price on my eBay (joanna_esme if you're interested!) because it doesn't fit me well!


Too many knitting projects on the go. Since then I've finished the navy, started and finished a hot pink snood and started a hot pink beret. So the pile's not really gone down at all....


My wonderful dress form. She's a bit old and creaky, plus she's still without a name, but she's been amazingly useful after I got her back in November. From freecycle too! 


Last but not least, trying to teach myself to draw clothes. So that I can show people what I want to make rather than just badly describing it. It's going reasonably well so far for a beginner! I have a fancy pen now and everything!! 

That's all for now folks. 

I've got a post about a lighthouse boat in the works for Monday, there's an outfit post lurking somewhere too! The fiancĂ© is off to work in India for a couple of weeks so after the busy weekend it should be a bit of smooth sailing! 

Jo. 

P.S. what have you been up to in November? 

Sunday 1 December 2013

Pencil Skirts and a Cape!

Two items of clothing that I love. You can't go wrong with a classic pencil skirt. They're brilliant because as a classic shape you can easily find them on the high street. M&S are great. They can be styled up or down and I find them fairly flattering! I have six now. 



Black casual. Navy casual. Khaki casual.



Black smart. Leopard print. Which I think should have its own category, but I'm putting in smart! And now bright teal smart.



The casual ones are all made of stretch fabric. They're great for biking, strolling, housework, and any day with a stiff breeze! They're also only cheap, two are from Primark, and I mean to buy a red one this winter if they still do them. The other is from Asda. They're great just to slouch around in a bit without worrying. I think the black one even has a paint stain from work!!

The leopard print is for fun from TK Maxx. I don't wear it very often, but it is awesome!

The smart black one is a poly cotton blend with a fancy lining. My godmother gave it to me. It has a lovely kick pleat and makes me feel very snazzy! 

The latest addition to my pencil skirt addiction is the bright teal woollen one. Picked up in a charity shop last week. It's by Windsmoor, made in England and is beautiful. Especially for £3.50! It's definitively vintage, although I suspect 80s rather than 50s which is the look I'm going for with it! 



I wore it for the first time last night with an unremarkable black top, my favourite nude heels, and my awesome Burberry cape! (See the last blog post!) it was a dinner for my fiancĂ©'s birthday, followed by a visit to a couple of terrible clubs in Colchester. That were half empty. Not quite the wild night I think Eric was after but still, we had fun! 



My highlight being walking out of the bathroom and bring confronted by a lovely lady who looked me up and down, and said "wow, you look so lovely!"



So thank you kind stranger! For making me want to dress up more often! 

Jo.

P.S. got a wardrobe staple? Any strangers say nice things to you recently? :-) 

December Aim!

I decided the other day to make up little icons for each month to post on my Instagram using photos taken in that month the previous year. (and maybe even prior to that!)


It was mostly for me, as I love doing my Instagram round up posts, but can never remember where one month starts and finishes. 

Then as I was posting it at two am this morning, I figured why not give it slightly more point. So my monthly aim was born! 

The great ideas you have in the middle of the night!!

My aim for this month is to try and set my hair more often. To try out my setting lotion and to figure out a good basic set for my hair at the moment. 


I love the way rollers come out but I get frustrated with them sometimes. 

My pin curl sets are never the same! 


Sometimes I get lazy and just do plaits. 


I run out of time and use heated rollers. The curls never last though. And I look like a total idiot for half an hour. Huge clips sticking up off my head! 

So basically I'm going to aim for more of this:


Resulting in beautiful neat curls. 

And less of this:


Crazy curls with no rhyme or reason to them! 

So, Go December (!), for good hair!!

Jo :-)

P.S. got any aims this month? Got any hair tips? 

Monday 25 November 2013

Stitch by Stitch

Hello there!

It's a bit cold really for tapping out a blog post. Need to be doing something active, my fingers and toes are freezing! I'll have to learn to knit socks. 

Which brings me neatly onto my topic for today. 


See what I did there....!

We've been starting to clear our garage over this last week. Some sad finds. Ruined fifties petticoats and a handmade dress. Apparently there's mice in there! 

There's still some suitcases of clothes to go through, but Eric's gran was tiny. So I have no hope except for accessories! 

One thing there was an abundance of though was magazines. Including these Stitch by Stitch ones from the 80s. 


They're a little dated, but there's a lot of handy how to's and little projects like the one above that make them worth keeping. 


So without rambling on too much more, here's a few of my favourite pages! 


Free skirt pattern. Uncut. Casual and comfy I think! 


Sweet summer dress fitted with shirring around the bodice. 

 
Suffolk Puff quilt. Not just for prams. Great for using up scraps of fabric! 


Velvet winter dress. With a few tweaks could look very 40s! Slightly less poof to the shoulders maybe! 



Simple nightdress pattern. With tap pant style shorts as well. I'm thinking more undergarments than night wear! 


Trench coat. Basic but smart! 


Crocheted daisies. Why not. 

A lovely little find to cheer up the monotony of clearing!

Jo. 

P.S. do you have any go to guides you love? Cheap pattern sources? 

Wednesday 20 November 2013

A Cape for Christmas

I know. I said the C word. I've just spent an hour at a Christmas Market at the Tiptree Jam Factory with my at some point to be sister-in-law. There was Christmas music. It's got me feeling all sparkly!! 

Mulled wine, roast chestnuts, hot chocolate and mince pies. Fake snow and fancy decorations. It was a good evening, but not the best thing that happened today. 

I give you, my charity shop cape!


It's pretty awesome. Zipped openings for your arms. Cute collar. Smart navy. Good, warm winter length. 


But wait!!


What's this?!


It's only bloody reversible! Look at that face. Imagine my excitement when I discovered this Amazingness! 


Bird Jo. Apparently it looks like a wing man suit. Meh. 

See how happy I am?

There's more! Whilst ringing my mum to tell her all about the amazing cape (we all do this right?!) I looked for a label. 

The reversible bit of the coat explains why neither I or the charity shop folk could find one.  

So I fiddled about between layers.

It's only Burberry! A Burberry cape for £12.99. That's reversible. 

Yes please. Don't mind if I do! 

So sorry for the bad phone quality photos, but I'm far too excited to wait for proper ones! 

Here's a picture of me looking all excited again. Just in case you forget. 


Cheers!

Jo. 

P.S. what's your best bargain from a charity shop? This beats my previous hands down!! 

Wednesday 13 November 2013

October Instagram Round Up

Top five of my most liked photos from October. 

Yes I managed to miss September completely. I will try harder. Many exciting things are occurring here at the moment but they are taking time! :-S please bear with me! 

So with no further ado:


Red hair with a cherry print bow! All dolled up for my dad's big birthday! It was a great night and we managed to get 70 candles on a cake. It was a raging inferno and the chocolate may have melted!!

 
My first attempt at inserting a sleeve, but with no pattern. My sewing skills seem ok. Pattern making skills, not so much! 


My beautiful blue lace circle skirt. I am pretty proud of this one! Two layers and the lace looks amazing. It didn't even take that long to make! 


For bored and wrote some stuff on a picture! When the finished table is back in my sticky mitts I will post another picture as this is only halfway through! Finished it's like a mirror! Seriously, you can read stuff in that surface! 


And last but not least, no make up and no filter selfie! After having had some issues with attempting to dye my hair blonde, I've gone back to fairly near my natural brunette. Which is sort of fading to a reddish colour as we go on. Darn red hair dye! Should definitely have gone blonde first. It's my plan after the red grows out now! 

That's all for now :-) catch you all again soon and thank you for reading!

Jo

P.S. what was your favourite thing last month?